After Shen Rusong dripped his blood, he did not rush to verify the result.
He took out a handkerchief, wiped his hands unhurriedly, and only then said to Ding Wang, “It’s been a long time. Do you remember a servant named Lu Amao who used to work in the mansion?”
Ding Wang was stunned. He didn’t understand why Shen Rusong would suddenly mention Amao at this moment. He could only nod vaguely.
“I remember when Ding He came of age back then, you originally intended to take Lu Amao as a live-in son-in-law, didn’t you?”
Ding Wang felt uneasy. How could Shen Rusong know about this? And why was he bringing it up now?
Ding Wang hurriedly explained, “This humble one had no sons, so I only thought about it at the time. But He’er followed you with a clean and pure reputation!”
“Of course I know that. But later—did you know that Lu Amao accidentally fell and was injured four years ago? Before he died, he instructed that all his savings be left to Sister Gui?”
Ding Wang’s mind went blank. Amao was dead? And he specifically left something for Sister Gui before he died?
Shen Rusong glanced at the porcelain bowl, said no more, and waved for Guyu to bring a bowl over.
Ding Wang looked at the small, swaying blood clot in the bowl and tremblingly took the small knife.
He understood Shen Rusong’s earlier implication, but He’er and Amao—how could that be possible?! He pulled Sister Gui’s right hand and made a cut on her middle finger—
Sister Gui’s blood dripped down somewhat scattered, not as cohesive as Shen Rusong’s clot. The two remained clearly distinct.
They did not merge!
Uncontrollable gasps echoed through the hall.
Wu Shi’s buttocks lifted from her chair, and even Nanny Tong couldn’t help but stand on tiptoe to peer at the porcelain bowl.
The Zhang Family, standing right across, craned their necks even further.
Holy shit! What a bombshell!
How dare the Ding Family do this?!
Zhang Xiuxiu excitedly kept elbowing her sister-in-law—look, look!
Sister-in-law Zhang twisted her waist from the powerful jabs of her sister-in-law, who was as strong as an ox, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the unfolding drama for even a moment.
Panting heavily, Ding Wang grabbed Sister Gui’s left hand and made another cut—still no merging.
Ding Wang, utterly disheartened, threw down the small knife. How could they not merge?!
Ding Ju’s face turned deathly pale as she and her mother supported each other.
Old Madam Ding clutched her chest, muttering, “How could this be, how could this be…”
Suddenly, as if remembering something, she shook off Ding Ju, grabbed the trembling Sister Gui, and bit her thumb until it bled.
Sister Gui was terrified by her grandmother’s sudden madness. Once she realized what was happening, she screamed, struggling and crying in fear and panic.
But no one paid her any attention at that moment. Everyone was staring at the porcelain bowl.
Drops of blood scattered like flowers in the bowl, but the blood clot remained unmoved.
Old Madam Ding collapsed to the ground in despair. There was nothing wrong with the knife—the bloodlines truly could not merge…
Shen Rusong watched coldly as the family’s commotion subsided somewhat before having Guyu retrieve the bowl. He then took out a stack of papers and instructed Guyu to hand them to Ding Wang.
Ding Wang’s hands trembled as he took them. Dizzy and disoriented, he closed his eyes briefly before barely making out the words on the paper.
The first page was Lu Amao’s will, stating that he had fallen while repairing the roof a few days earlier and was now on the verge of death.
The Shen Family had given him ten taels of silver, and together with the two taels and three hundred seventy-four copper coins he had saved over the years, it was all to be left to “his descendant.” The date of the will was four years ago.
“His descendant”! Ding Wang recalled Shen Rusong’s earlier words, and his head began to buzz.
Summoning his last ounce of strength, he turned to the second page, which contained testimonies from several maidservants of the Shen Mansion, all pointing to a close relationship between Ding He and Lu Amao.
Some had witnessed the two meeting in private, while others had been entrusted by Lu Amao to deliver items to Ding He. Below were their fingerprints and signatures, making it all very formal.
The following pages contained statements from several male servants of the Shen Mansion, some of whom he was quite familiar with.
Among them, one had heard Lu Amao drunkenly call Ding He “wife”; another had caught Lu Amao secretly buying medicine and, out of curiosity, inquired with the pharmacy assistant, only to discover it was actually medicine for stabilizing pregnancy…
Ding Wang could read no further. His lips trembled soundlessly before he collapsed backward. Fortunately, a chair was behind him, preventing him from cracking his skull and causing a tragedy.
Amid the screams of the Ding family women, Nanny Tong rushed over in three quick strides, rolled up her sleeves, and pinched Ding Wang’s philtrum hard.
When he let out a faint groan and showed some reaction, she pulled out a silver hairpin from her hair and pricked each of his fingertips one by one.
By the time she reached the third finger, Ding Wang opened his eyes. The Ding mother and daughter hurriedly gathered around, helping him sit up halfway and patting his back to soothe him.
Nanny Tong tucked away her hairpin and retreated behind Wu Shi with an air of quiet accomplishment.
Shen Rusong couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
He despised the Ding family for their underhanded tricks and wanted to punish them, but he had no intention of causing a death—especially not on Shen family grounds at this moment.
Seeing that the Ding family was now stable, Shen Rusong turned his attention away from them and looked toward the Zhang family.
The rest of the Zhang family were still watching the Ding family drama unfold, but Zhang Xiuxiu was the first to notice her “noble son-in-law” looking at her. Moreover, her handsome gentleman was speaking to her!
“Zhang Shi, do you still remember what happened back then?”
Ah~ how embarrassing! Why is Shen Lang asking this right away! Is this something to be discussed in front of so many people~~
?
Shen Rusong didn’t understand why this woman suddenly wore a dreamy, smiling expression. He straightforwardly instructed Guyu to bring over the second bowl of clear water.
Sister-in-law Zhang glanced at her suddenly infatuated sister-in-law, then at Zhang Dalang, who had been fidgeting nervously since entering the room. Left with no choice, she picked up the small knife and, despite Sister Nian’s struggles, made a cut, letting a drop of blood fall—
And once again, it did not merge!
The scene was almost identical to what had happened with Sister Gui earlier: the drop of blood drifted in strands through the water, showing no sign of merging with the crimson pool.
Sister-in-law Zhang was dumbfounded.
This sudden second bombshell even silenced the weeping of the Ding family.
Ding Wang, who had been on the verge of collapse moments ago, now sat bolt upright as if jolted back to life.
Now it was Zhang Xiuxiu’s turn to mutter in despair, “How could this be, how could this be…”
Ding Wang suddenly felt much better!
“I remember it was after the Dragon Boat Festival in Year Yuanhe 16. I and five classmates had arranged to go hiking outside the city. Guo Pang—one of my classmates—accidentally fell and injured himself while descending the mountain. Then, a sudden downpour forced us to take shelter at my Shen family’s nearby farmstead for two days.”
Shen County Deputy owned some farmland in the outskirts of Anyang County, near the village where the Zhang family lived. As a result, many people in Zhangjia Village were tenants of the Shen Mansion, farming Shen family land.
This so-called farmstead was actually just a large blue-brick compound where the Shen Mansion’s estate manager resided. Nearby were the small cottages where Ding Wang’s family had lived after being expelled from the mansion.
Ding Wang concentrated on his recollection; it seemed there had indeed been such a night when the neighbors were making a commotion. So it turned out Shen Rusong had come, so close to He’er! How hateful that he had been too ashamed to show his face, shutting himself indoors all day, and that steward, seeing him out of favor, had stubbornly kept it hidden. If only—
He glanced at Sister Gui, sitting dazed in her chair with tears hanging from her eyes, and sighed! Even if he had known Shen Rusong had gone, what use would it have been!
Shen Rusong’s unhurried voice echoed through the hall: “Each of us six brought a servant boy. With these twelve people plus the horses, the farmstead manager’s family simply couldn’t handle it all, so they went to Zhangjia Village to call some quick-handed women to serve.”
Sister-in-law Zhang abruptly turned to look at Zhang Xiuxiu, who still hadn’t recovered. What she had heard from this mother and daughter was not like this at all!
The old woman had boasted all day that her daughter had nearly married a nobleman, only that her luck was bad, and she hadn’t borne a son to enter the household.
She had wondered, what kind of young master could take a fancy to her sister-in-law at first sight while traveling? Could it be some lecherous old man lacking a son and with poor eyesight?
So it turned out Zhang Xiuxiu had forced her way in all along!
The farmstead manager was no fool. Back then, he had gone to the village to call people for work, not to procure women.
With a courtyard full of young gentlemen here, in such compromising circumstances, not to mention unmarried women, even younger married women the manager wouldn’t dare to hire.
As for how Zhang Xiuxiu later sneaked in with the food delivery cart, that would have to be asked of herself.
Seeing Zhang Xiuxiu lower her head in silence, Shen Rusong didn’t press her further, asking instead: “We were staying in the east and west courtyards separately. Which side did you go to?”
“The east courtyard!” Zhang Xiuxiu declared firmly.
She remembered clearly: the moment she saw Shen Rusong, she had chosen her target, watching him enter the east courtyard with her own eyes.
Moreover, she had hidden at a distance and watched for a long time, confirming that the servant boy following Shen Rusong had retreated from the room on the left side of the east courtyard.
“That night, I went to the east courtyard to visit a friend, then returned to the west courtyard to rest.”
“How is that possible! I clearly saw—”
Sister-in-law Zhang pinched the still-foolish Zhang Xiuxiu hard: “The blood didn’t match!”
Zhang Xiuxiu shut her mouth, her face instantly turning ashen.
“Master Shen, this matter is truly our family’s fault! We have tarnished your good name. Please be magnanimous and do not hold it against us.” Sister-in-law Zhang dragged Zhang Dalang down to kneel and kowtow in apology.
Seeing that Shen Rusong, though expressionless, did not seem particularly angry, she gritted her teeth and cautiously probed: “Might I ask—which young masters were staying in the east courtyard?”
Hearing this, Zhang Xiuxiu immediately perked up.
That’s right! Even if she had mistaken the person, Shen Rusong’s classmates at the County School were at least Tongsheng (County-Level Examinees).
And those who could bring servants and travel on horseback with Shen Rusong—their family backgrounds certainly wouldn’t be poor!
She really was destined to marry a noble husband after all!
Then she heard Shen Rusong ask her: “There were three rooms in the east courtyard. Brother Guo stayed in the middle one. He had sprained his waist and could barely sit in a carriage two days later, so naturally, there’s no need to mention him. Which room did you go to, the left or the right?”
“I don’t remember clearly, probably, probably the left one…” She had personally seen Shen Rusong’s servant boy come out from that room, so she had assumed Shen Rusong stayed there, sneaking in late at night.
Now it seemed, perhaps Shen Rusong had only sent someone to deliver a message or something, causing her to misunderstand.
But having learned from the earlier lesson, Zhang Xiuxiu became more cautious this time and didn’t speak too definitively.
“Oh, so that’s Brother Du. That year, he not only passed as a Xiucai but also succeeded in the Autumn Examinations and became a Juren.”
Zhang Xiuxiu’s eyes instantly lit up—a Juren could directly become an official! Shen Rusong was merely a Xiucai, while her noble son-in-law back then was already a Juren!
She twisted her handkerchief: “Then, then, where is Du Lang now—”
Shen Rusong glanced at her. Already calling him Du Lang?